Ryotaro Meshino’s bright start to his Hearts career has been rewarded with a call-up to the Japan Under 23 squad.
The 21-year-old is on a season-long loan form Manchester City, and has impressed with his trickery, directness and attitude at Tynecastle . He scored his first goal for the club against Motherwell last month.
He has been called up today for the match against Brazil on 14 October that will follow a five day training camp and a practice match against Sao Paulo Under 20s.
What will be a worry for Hearts is the Under 23 Asian Championships in Thailand next January. Should Meshino impress this time around and is included in the squad for that tournament, Craig Levein could be without him for the whole month.
The tournament runs from 8 – 26 January with Japan in Group B alongside Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Syria. They are expected to qualify and reach the latter stages, being amongst the favourites to lift the trophy.
Should that transpire with Meshino amongst their ranks, he would miss Hearts’ opening Scottish Cup fixture and matches away to Ross County and home to Rangers.
Glenn Whelan will also be on international duty next week, having been included in the Republic of Ireland squad to face Georgia and Switzerland.
Should he feature in one match, he’ll move level with Tony Cascarino on 88 caps, whereas appearances in both will see him overtake the former Celtic striker.
Michael Smith has also made his international return with Northern ireland. he was forced to pull out of the last squad due to injury, but is back in for their games against the Netherlands and Czech Republic.
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